Saša Kovačević

Since the beginning of my time as a student within the Faculty of Education, there has been a large focus on the importance of personal identity, and understanding the self. There are some values that we place higher than others, and our placement on various spectrums is not always consistent. As much as we would prefer not to, it is likely that as educators we have some predispositions regarding race, class or gender. It is then also likely that these existing assumptions can influence our perceptions of our students, and even further influence our expectations. 

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As a student, I was always someone who was "performance oriented," which sees the "students focus on success and interpret their outcomes as reflecting their ability or lack of ability" (McMahan & Thompson, 2015, p.194). For me, this was something that was easy to gauge, and my success was seen as a number. Often times this was also used as a reward, where success in academics was directly correlated to success in life. Interestingly, however, a look at Dan Pink's TED Talk, "The Puzzle of Motivation" (2009), shows that the largest rewards do not yield the highest results. With that being said, I do not plan on giving rewards for superior performance. Rather, I hope that I can foster motivation within my students to do their best. 

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While I do understand the importance of "mastery orientation," which places "a focus on learning and mastering tasks and on personal improvement," I tend to lean towards a little friendly competition (McMahan & Thompson, 2015, p.194). I am also aware that this is something that might not work for every student, but will likely be something that is implied through the way I speak about education, and my expectations when it comes to formal assessments. Of course, I want the best for my students, and I do think that understanding my personal views and goals compared to the others that exist is crucial. Further, it would be my goal to encourage both orientations within my classroom. Discussing both, and perhaps not as technically as I have done here, will allow the students to see where they too place their values and give them the opportunity to identify with either. 

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In our interactive lecture, as well as in our reading, there was also a focus on the attributional process and the causal dimension. Here we saw that we have the largest influence upon controllable, internal and unstable causes (Topic 5: School and Work, 2016). As an educator I think it will be very important to foster an environment where the students feel they have control of their outcomes, and promote them to be the change they want to see in themselves, should this desire exist. I think it is my job to enforce and influence what the students attribute to their success, and that is themselves. As seen in the "attribution theory," which is "an approach to achievement that focuses on the causes people see as responsible for their success and failures,"the causes can be unspecific. Here, it is important to foster the individual as a cause for success, and perhaps strengthen their tie to student centred learning.